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“Well, Cora, here’s the thing,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together. Like, a lot of time, and I’ve kind of figured out when you’re lying.”
Cora’s blood ran cold. She was desperate, searching for something, anything she could do, but she felt stuck. There was a sheer cliff or a crazy man with a gun.
“And I know you told people you were moving to get away from me, you see,” he went on. “You told your friends! You told your sister! You even told the cops!”
She swallowed, trying to think fast.
“I wasn’t really trying to get away from you,” she said, slowly, her eyes always on the gun. “I wanted to see if you loved me enough to follow me.”
As she said it, she looked into his eyes, and she hoped that she looked like a girl in love, not like a girl fearing for her life.
Neil’s face broke into a smile.
“Baby,” he said. “Of course.”
Then he walked over to her and stuck his gun in her back, propelling her forward.
I should have run, Cora thought.
He walked her to the stone wall, and then made her stand on top of it. The wind rushed up and blew her torn skirt and shirt, billowing them both out, nearly knocking her backwards.
Below was a dizzying cliff, a couple hundred feet of solid granite, boulders at the bottom. Cora’s heart hammered in her chest.
Think of something, she thought. Come on, come on, think of something.
He climbed up next to her.
“You know, I had the ring all picked out,” he said, his voice getting dreamy. “Princess cut, of course, white gold band. We’d both wear white at our wedding and release doves at the end of the ceremony. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”
Cora’s voice stuck in her throat, so she just nodded.
She couldn’t hear anything from the forest.
They’re not coming, she realized. It didn’t work. They probably think I’m still in the shower.
“And then, you had to go and debase yourself like that last night,” he said.
His eyes filled with tears, and he stuck the gun into Cora’s ribs. Despite herself, she looked down, her heart seizing with fear at the drop.
“Sweetheart,” she said. Her stomach churned with revolt, but she put a hand on his face, stroking it. “I was thinking of you the whole time,” she whispered.
Neil looked deeply into her eyes for seconds on end.
Maybe it’s working, she thought desperately.
Then he shook his head.
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. You still did it, and you know, Cora, now we can’t have a happy ending.”
He grabbed her hand with the one that wasn’t holding the gun to her and kissed it, fiercely.
“We go down together,” he said. “Romeo and Juliet. They’ll tell our story.”
“Romeo and Juliet didn’t jump—”
“Kiss me,” he said, the gun jabbing into her painfully.
Cora complied. His lips were cold and slimy, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth instantly. He tasted like aspirin and cigarettes, and she felt like he was gnawing on her face. Her heart exploded in her chest, and she tried frantically to think of something, anything.
